Leaked Roe opinion is both unnerving, pleasing

Was it a premonition or déjà vu?

I had just finished reading “The Tenth Justice” by my friend Brad Meltzer. His first novel, a legal thriller published on 1997, is about a Supreme Court clerk who gets tricked into leaking an opinion and then blackmailed for more. Just days after I finished reading it, a draft of a Supreme Court opinion was leaked in real life. Talk about life imitating art!

I find it unconscionable that a draft of a Supreme Court opinion would get leaked. The highest court’s work is meant to be done in secret. It’s a part of government where the sun doesn’t shine. A violation of this secrecy poses a huge threat to the integrity of the nation’s highest court.

All that being said, I find solace in the direction of the leaked opinion. Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion, in what is known as the Dobbs case, addresses the infamous Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in the United States. Many on the pro-abortion (pro-choice) side fear the ruling will overturn Roe and make abortion illegal across the land. That’s simply not the case. What it would do is shift the legality of abortion back to individual states where it belongs.

Personally, I’m all for ending abortion. I’m for anything that can be done to weaken or eliminate pro-abortion laws. I believe abortion to be the murder of the most innocent and defenseless of lives, all at the conspiratorial hands of doctors sworn to protect life and the child’s very own mother – the two people who should be most vested in protecting that life.

I understand and completely reject the perspective that making abortion illegal is government interference in a woman’s private life and her body. Conversely, it is the extension of all the rights and privileges guaranteed to the mother to the baby inside her. Undue government interference is what you get when the government forces a woman to get an abortion, like you see in communist and socialist countries.

We have laws to protect individuals from harm by others. That’s why it is illegal to steal from someone, harm them in any way, or take the life of another person. In this case, the other person happens to be an unborn human being who has done no wrong.

When I was young and trying to figure out my political leanings, there was always one constant that guided me – the belief that abortion is murder and ought to be illegal. It is central not only to my belief system, but also to my politics and the reason I became a conservative.

To better understand the fallacies that led to the original 1973 Roe decision, I highly recommend viewing the “Roe v. Wade” movie that came out last year. I did a phone interview with Nick Loeb who stars in and directed the movie. He very clearly paints a picture of the lies and deceit that went into the case from the pro-choice side. Loeb took great personal risk to make the film, and while it is very biased, it also presents verifiable and unrefuted facts behind the abortion machine that forged the Roe case.

Despite my opinion and bias regarding abortion, I do find it unnerving that this or any ruling by the nation’s high court could not only be leaked, but published. While that may be a major coup by a news organization – in this case Politico – I also see it as aiding and abetting a crime. To me, it’s a major breach of journalistic ethics to publish something that was illegally and immorally obtained.

This isn’t like the Washington Post uncovering Watergate, where crimes had been committed. The leaked opinion is ill-gotten gains and the crime is committed by both leaker and publisher.

What we do not know is what is happening now behind the cloak of secrecy in the Supreme Court. Opinions change and votes change as drafts are revised. One of the reasons this is done in secret is to keep outside sources from influencing the work of the justices. Brad Meltzer knew this when he wrote “The Tenth Justice,” which is what helped make it such an incredible thriller.

After having watched “Roe v. Wade” and reading “The Tenth Justice,” seeing these events unravel in real life really is like having a premonition or a deep sense of déjà vu. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)